Que Restrait il
by 2three.abi
Summary: "Ruka Nogi, thanks for the memories. And for the wonderful gift you've left me. Goodbye?" Multi-chap. R and R?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimed.

Setting: Somewhere in Tokyo, a few years after they graduated from the academy. Their age for the first part? You decide. :D

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><p><em><strong>It hurts the worst when the person that made you special yesterday, makes you feel so unwanted today.<strong>_

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><p>Like a lone tear in the ocean… like a soft whisper muffled by the loud voices of the crowd around him… his feelings for her were suddenly gone. He didn't want it to happen, he didn't mean to hurt her. He hated it when pain suddenly flashed on her beautiful face when he told her… <em>I don't love you anymore. I'm so sorry, Hotaru.<em>

He saw anger and pain in her eyes. She was broken, he could see that, and yet she stood her ground. She masked her current vulnerability with pride and dignity… of what was still left in her.

Ruka saw both the corner of her lips curved upward into a bittersweet smile.

"So that was the reason why you seemed so bothered these past few days," she said while searching for his eyes, making him see how hurt she was. Well, you couldn't blame her. After all she'd done for him, after all that she'd _given up_ just to be with him… This was the least that she could do. Make him feel so guilty for hurting her.

The blonde looked into her eyes and bowed his head afterwards. He couldn't help it. He couldn't look straight into her eyes anymore. "Y-yes," he replied.

He heard her laugh. Hotaru Imai just _laughed_. The Animal Pheromone user lifted his head to look at her. She was laughing alright, and he thought that that certain moment was so… _ironic_. Ironic in sense that, it was the first time he ever saw her laugh… and _cry_. All at the same time.

The inventor wiped the tears away from her cheeks. "Who?"

Ruka's forehead knotted… _what?_

"Who is she? Tell me, Nogi."

He almost winced when he heard her say his last name. "What do you mean, Hotaru?"

It took her a long time before she could even reply. "Do you… love someone else?"

_No!_ his mind immediately replied. _There's nobody but you, Hotaru. _

His eyes widened at the realization. He still loved her. He still _does_. And yet, the pain in her eyes made him unable to move to the point that he couldn't feel his own body. Ruka Nogi stood there, in front of the woman he love_s_, pondering if he could tell her that he had been wrong. That he still loved her. That he would still want to marry her and live the rest of his life with her.

But he decided against it. It wasn't just simple anymore, he decided. He couldn't just take back all the words he said and undo the pain he had caused her.

He wanted to tell her again how much he loved her, how sorry he was that he had hurt her when he promised that he wouldn't even try. But then, he knew deep inside him that it wasn't that easy. It was not that simple anymore.

He gently shook his head. He was being redundant now.

Ruka tried to search for words in which he could tell her how he truly felt about her… then and now. And yet, he couldn't even utter a single word to her.

The raven-head took his silence as a confirmation. She sighed as she motioned to touch his face. "You don't have to tell me who," she said. "You have hurt me enough."

She smiled a little when he saw the expression on his face. "Just joking. I understand you, Ruka. Believe or not. Feelings may fade, and I believe that yours already has."

"Hotaru, you're wrong. I still-"

"So this is goodbye now?" she asked, not bothering to let him finish his sentence.

"Hotaru-"

"How funny. I was just about to tell you something… important. Oh well. So this is it?" She stretched her hand out to him. "Ruka Nogi, thanks for the memories. And for the wonderful gift you've left me. Goodbye?"

He gently took her small calloused hand into his bigger ones before shaking it. He was dumbfounded when she just turned around and walked away from him, after smiling at him. Why did he feel like she hadn't told her something important? Something that he ought to know? Well, she did tell him earlier that she was supposed to tell him something a while ago. Before _that_. Before his idiocy happened.

The blonde hit himself with his handheld device after reading a message from it. The text was from Hotaru and it said… _I'll just get my things from your place tomorrow. Thanks._

And that was it. He never saw her again.

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><p>A thirty-two year old blonde took off his eyeglasses before massaging his temples to somehow relieve his headache. He then got a medicine from his drawer and drank it.<p>

He had a very busy day today. He had just finished operating a dog which was accidentally shot by a gun on its hind leg. It was not a hard operation to perform, considering that the bullet didn't damage any organs, but still, he just felt so tired.

Ruka turned to look at the door of his office when it opened. Kaori, his business partner and also a veterinarian like him, came in.

"Kaori, is there anything wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong, Ruka. I just thought that… maybe you need a vacation."

His eyes widened. A vacation? That was the last thing that he needed for now.

The man in front of him sense his disapproval and gently shook his head.

"Ruka, I appreciate your dedication and compassion to our work, but I need my business partner to be healthy in order to make this business to be more… successful."

The blonde knotted his forehead. "What do you mean?"

"When was the last time you went out for a date, Ruka? When was the last time that you enjoyed your whole day with someone-"

"Hold on," Ruka said, his hand was outstretched in front of him, stopping Kaori from continuing. "Is this conversation about my non-existent love life? Again?"

The man in front of him smiled sheepishly. _Hah_. He knew it.

"Kaori, I consider you as my second best friend and all, but please don't pry into my personal life. Please. I'm begging you."

"Well-"

He smirked. "Hey, you getting yourself a girlfriend doesn't mean that you can dictate me now, Akimoto."

"Well… I just got myself engaged, Ruka," he said, a wide smile was on his face.

"Wow. Congratulations, Kaori. Who would have thought that someone would say yes to you?"

The man put both his hands inside the pockets of his white robe. "Well, Hotaru Imai did."

"That's good then. So when's the wedding- wait. Who is it again?"

"Hotaru Imai," Kaori replied, before shaking his head. "I know right? I couldn't even believe it either, man. She finally said yes."

The blonde sat there massaging both his temples again. A brand new headache was beginning to form.

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><p>AN: About the title (it means What Remained anyway)... HAHA. Sweetest Revenge and I almost fought over it. We've talked about it for hours with nothing but internet thesaurus and Google Translate on our side OTL XDD

So... I'm back. Hoho~ Review? :D


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimed. I own nothing except for the OC. AoGA owns Kei Imai Nogi. :D

For _**Black Maya. **_She needs more love from me, too. :)

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><p><em><strong>The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again. –Charles Dickens<strong>_

…or is it?

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><p>"What are you still doing here, Ruka? I thought you're on your vacation?"<p>

The blonde just looked at the man who was currently seated on a swivel chair while facing his own computer.

"What vacation?"

Kaori sighed. "The one that I told you about the other day?" he then shook his head. "I already told you, didn't I? With your pretty boy face, that shouldn't be hard."

"And I've already told you my answer. No, I don't need a vacation, thank you very much. And I don't need a woman in my life…" Ruka stopped talking for a while. He then gently shook his head and continued with a whisper, "…the last time I let one in, I just hurt her… so badly."

The Animal Pheromone user saw the man nodding his head while touching his chin with a finger. "The last time? So you're still in love with her? Maybe this _is_ the reason why you don't want to, er, date someone until now. _Tssss_. I can't believe we're talking about _this_."

Was he still in love with her? He never forgot her, that was true, but that didn't mean that he still loved her… right? _Right?_

Ruka Nogi sighed. "You know, Kaori-"

There was suddenly a knock on the door before he could even finished what he was about to say. A very cute Pomeranian barked as it entered the door. Its owner bowed to them politely and told them about the scheduled check-up.

Right then and there, their conversation was forgotten and Ruka was quite thankful for that.

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><p>The blonde, who was sitting on his swivel chair comfortably, suddenly stood up when he heard the slamming of the door. A panting Kaori entered his office, with sweat trickling down his neck. He panted hard as he tried to say something to him.<p>

"Ruka -pant- I need to -pant- go -pant- now." He swallowed and breathed out before continuing again. "It's an emergency!"

"What? What happened?"

Kaori looked at his handheld device when it rang. "_Kei_ is missing!" he replied immediately before running out of the door.

"Kei?" Ruka asked himself. "Who the hell is Kei?" He shook his head before continuing what he was doing. Oh, right. A dog owner just called him earlier, asking for a schedule for a check-up.

_Hmm, let's see,_ he told himself as he scanned some of the papers on top of his desk, letting his work distract him for the mean time.

The blonde looked at his wristwatch. It was lunch time already. No wonder he felt so hungry. Piling all of the important papers on top of office table, he stood up, got his cellphone and some money for lunch.

He decided to close the clinic as he was taking his lunch and Kaori was still nowhere to be seen… which was odd. Kaori, even though he was not an Alice, was as passionate as him when it comes to their work.

He inwardly sighed. He could handle the clinic alone for now. Besides, there were no pet owners scheduled for a check-up or something that day.

"Closer. Just a little bit _mooooore_. There, there. No, kitty! Don't move! You're going to fall! Nooo! Kittyyy!"

Ruka then heard someone shrieked. He looked at the playground at the side of the road, and saw a boy who was almost falling of a tree. The little boy's feet dangled as he held onto a branch.

The Animal Pheromone Alice user quickly moved and caught the little boy when he fell. Despite the terrifying experience, surprisingly, the boy in his arms, about the age of seven or eight, was not crying.

"Kitty? Where's kitty? Kitty!"

The boy jumped off when he saw the kitten beside the man who saved him, while rubbing the side of its head to the man's leg.

"Kitty! I'm glad you're safe!"

The said boy frowned when the kitten ignored him. He then looked at the man as he knelt down to scoop the kitten into his arms. A minute has passed before the boy finally said, "You're an Alice, aren't you, Mister?"

Ruka was astounded when he heard the boy. He smiled gently at him, as he continued to pet the little feline in his arms as it yawned.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"It's the look in the Kitty's eyes. It's like… he fell in love with you the moment he looked at you."

"Oh?" Ruka asked, amused with the boy's intelligence. "Tell me, how did you know about Alices?"

"Because I am one, and my mother, too," the child replied.

_Ah, that figures_, Ruka thought. He asked the boy's name as he handed him the sleeping kitten.

"My name is Kei." The boy then made a face when his stomach grumbled. "…and I'm hungry."

"I haven't eaten lunch. Do you want to join me?"

The little boy's face brightened at what Ruka had said, but it had turned sour when he seemed to remember something. "But I think my mama would be mad at me once she finds out that I ate lunch with a stranger."

"I'm Ruka. Ruka Nogi," the blonde man said as he smiled at Kei. He held his hand out for the little boy to shake. He then patted the child's head as he asked him what he wanted for lunch.

"Crab! Crab! And _mooooooooooooore _crab!"

Ruka laughed and took the boy's hand. Funny how he felt something stirred in his heart the moment he held the little boy's hand.

The two ended up eating the lunch Ruka bought inside the clinic. The older blonde decided to close it for the rest f the day, since there were no scheduled check-ups until tomorrow morning.

Again, he looked at the boy's face as Keri watched the dogs inside the cage. He looked at the boy's blonde locks (a shade lighter than his), his nose, his eyes…

Ruka frowned. Something in Kei's eyes seemed very familiar to him. Something in those amethyst orbs…

'_Amethyst?_' he asked himself. He then shook his head and laughed at his own foolishness. '_You're an idiot, you know that, Ruka? What you're thinking is impossible._'

Again, he shook his head and muttered under his breath. _It couldn't be_, he told himself. _No_. _Absolutely not. She should have told me. She should have._

_Oh?_ a part of his mind asked him sarcastically. _The last time you saw her, Ruka Nogi… she was broken. _You_ broke her. You saw it. You saw her face… her eyes._

The blonde cursed softly.

"My mama said that it's bad to say bad words."

Ruka looked at the child once again… his eyes brought memories back to his mind unconsciously. He then flashed a smile the child's direction. "I know. Sorry."

Kei beamed at him as he continued to watch the animals, and imitated it when it yawned.

"You sleepy, kiddo?" he asked. The boy shook his head, as he continued to yawn. The Animal Pheromone Alice user then motioned to stand up and picked up the boy before laying him down on the couch. Kei protested, saying he wasn't really sleepy, even though he couldn't even keep both his eyes open.

"You should sleep. I'll find your parents later when you wake up." Ruka chuckled and told Kei to sleep once again. He stood up, waiting for the child's response. He then smiled when he found the boy sleeping soundly on the couch, a frown was on his cute face.

"I told you I wasn't really… sleepy," he heard the boy mutter.

Smiling, Ruka turned and sat on his swivel chair and continued to work on the files Kaori asked him to look into.

It was then that after a couple of hours that the little boy woke up. The older blonde saw the boredom on the boy's face and decided to show him around the clinic, and _introduced_ the boy to the animals inside the cages.

Ruka suddenly heard the opening of the door and he excused himself from the little boy who was currently enjoying himself.

A worried Kaori entered the door and he frowned as he massaged his temples with his hand. "We haven't seen him. We can't find him, Ruka."

"Calm down, Kaori."

"I can't! You see, this is the first time that he has been missing for so long. Hotaru just doesn't show it, but I know that she's extremely worried."

Confusion could be seen in the blonde's face as the man beside him continued to rant. "Wait. Who's missing?"

"I did tell you before I went out, right? He has been missing all day! Where could that boy been? Hotaru will be here shortly-"

"Wait, what?" Ruka asked, his cerulean eyes widening.

"My fiancée will be here, Ruka. She just asked her friends if somehow they saw-" A knock on the door was then heard. "Ah! That must be her."

Ruka Nogi was stunned. He would see her again. He. Would. See. Her. Again. Oh, someone get a brick and throw it at his head, hopefully knocking him in the process. He was not prepared for this. And he was not trembling, _damn it_!

Kaori went to open the door as a woman entered. Her face was full with worry and her eyes seemed troubled. And yet, she was still beautiful. She hasn't changed a bit, as for Ruka's opinion. She was still the Hotaru he knew back then, the Hotaru he loved.

He mentally smacked the back of his head. The woman still hasn't noticed him and that hurt him… well, just a bit. Ignoring his own feelings, Ruka turned to leave the two of them, only to find himself colliding with the wall. He held his bumped forehead, as he muttered a string of curses that he knew of.

"Nogi," he heard her whisper. He muttered a curse before turning around. There she was, looking so beautiful and divine… and she was looking at him. Like she was on top of the list of people that she would not like to see.

_Well, you probably are on top, Ruka Nogi_, he mentally told himself. "Ho-" He saw her raised an eyebrow to him. He then coughed before stretching a hand for her to shake. He was still a gentleman after all this time. "Imai. It's nice to see you again."

The inventor took his hand into hers and shook it briefly. "Yeah. It has been… a while."

Kaori looked at the both of them, astonished with the fact that they know each other. "We've known each other, Kaori," Hotaru said. "We attended the same school."

"Yeah. In fact, we were classmates." _And she's my ex-girlfriend._

The man nodded his head. "But man," he then said, turning to Ruka, "you didn't even tell me."

"Oh? Must have slipped my mind. Besides, it's nothing to brag about." The blonde then heard the inventor snicker.

An awkward silence followed, before a loud crash was heard from Ruka's office where they also keep the animals. (Apparently, they all seemed so calm with him around. That was the reason why Kaori decided to keep them inside the blonde's office.)

"Ah, I forgot about him already," he then said before motioning to open the door. But before he could even reach it, it opened, and a crying boy emerged from it. The child hugged the man in front of him as he sniffed.

"Chuchi pulled my hair, Mr. Nogi! Chuchi is a bad monkey! He even threw a water bottle at me."

Feeling sympathy for the child, Ruka patted his head.

"Kei!" hearing this, the little boy looked behind the man. His cute face brightened as more tears escaped his eyes.

"Mama!"

Ruka turned his head and found the little boy in Hotaru's arms. Did he just hear him say…? His eyes widened.

"_Mou_, Kei-kun, your mother and I have been looking for you the whole day. Where have you been?"

"Mama?" the blonde whispered unconsciously.

The Ice Queen looked at him… well, scratch that. _Glaring_ was the right word.

His eyes then widened in realization. The truth hit him literally on the face, as he heard some _baka baka baka!_ noises. Oh, the infamous Baka Gun. Typical Hotaru.

"What the hell, _Hotaru_!" he exclaimed, completely forgetting about the others with them.

"Baka Gun version *insert number here*. Heh. It's really been so long, Nogi."

"Is that even legal? Hey, Ruka, are you okay?" he heard Kaori asked. Hotaru then snickered.

"Don't worry about him. He's used to this."

Shaking the dizziness off as he shook his head, Ruka looked at the woman in front of him. "Kei. Is he-"

Knowing him and his question (probably), Hotaru didn't even let him finish. "Yes, he is. We'll talk about this later."

What. The. Hell. The little boy turned out to be his son! God.

He then felt his dizziness returned.

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><p><strong>AN: **Believe me, I tried my very best in writing this chapter. See the word count? XD gaaah.

I have made so many friends because of Fanfiction. It's quite shameful that I even thought of leaving. XDD

**Preview:**

Hayate then turned to face him, the smile on his face didn't falter. "He told me that he wants you to marry her mother instead of that Akimoto."

*wink, wink*


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